Abstract
The chapter describes the British debate on TTIP in three sections. First, a summary of the historical relationship of the United Kingdom (UK) with European integration is described, highlighting the traditionally antagonistic politicisation that has taken place in the British public sphere, best illustrated by the 2016 Brexit referendum. The framing analysis is then described in three subsections: the first is an overview of the British TTIP debate, and the next two describe two chronological periods that have been identified in the media content analysis. Finally, the British public sphere’s historical antagonistic framing of ‘Europe’ is connected to the TTIP debate, contextualising the empirical analysis and reflecting upon its relation to the Brexit debate.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The Guardian made a list of the ‘10 best Euromyths’: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/23/10-best-euro-myths-from-custard-creams-to-condoms (accessed 15 June 2019).
- 2.
The Live Coverage type of content is an article produced on the basis of minute-by-minute updates on a particular topic. The Guardian narrated a British House of Commons debate on TTIP on a minute-by-minute basis, indicating the importance it assigned to the agreement.
- 3.
It is worth pointing out that the NHS plays the role of a sacred cow in the UK: even the ‘Leave’ campaign in the British 2016 EU referendum used it, arguing that exit from the EU would lead to an additional 350 million pounds investment in the NHS. This argument was most notably present in buses that circulated around the UK.
- 4.
The Guardian’s resemblance to eldiario.es is not coincidental, given that the Spanish platform does not have its own international section. Instead, eldiario.es has an agreement to translate and republish a certain number of articles per week published initially in The Guardian.
- 5.
Antagonistic discourse on TTIP vis-à-vis the EU could also have been found in right-wing tabloids such as the Daily Mail or The Sun, but these have not been empirically analysed.
- 6.
This indicates that the antagonistic discourse circulating in the British public sphere during the Brexit referendum can coexist with agonistic conflict on other issues, such as TTIP.
Bibliography
Baker, D., & Seawright, D. (Eds.) (1998). Britain for and against Europe: British politics and the question of European integration. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
BBC. (2016, May 3). TTIP trade talks ‘likely to stop’, warns French minister. BBC. Available Online: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36191577. Accessed 6 July 2020.
Cerny, P. G. (2014, February 13). Trade pacts should not expand private power. Financial Times. Available Online: https://www.ft.com/content/479a3aca-9350-11e3-8ea7-00144feab7de. Accessed 6 July 2020.
Dearden, N. (2016, April 25). Nick Dearden, TTIP is a very bad excuse to vote for Brexit. The Guardian. Available Online: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/25/ttip-vote-brexit-barack-obama-leave-eu-trade-deal. Accessed 6 July 2020.
Díez Medrano, J. (2003). Framing Europe: Attitudes to European integration in Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Princeton/Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Evans, G., & Menon, A. (2017). Brexit and British politics. Cambridge: Wiley.
Fox, J. E., Moroşanu, L., & Szilassy, E. (2012). The racialization of the new European migration to the UK. Sociology, 46(4), 680–695.
Galpin, C., & Trenz, H. J. (2018). Converging towards Euroscepticism? Negativity in news coverage during the 2014 European Parliament elections in Germany and the UK. European Politics and Society, 20, 1–17.
Gifford, C. (2006). The rise of post-imperial populism: The case of right-wing Euroscepticism in Britain. European Journal of Political Research, 45(5), 851–869.
Gowland, D., Turner, A., & Wright, A. (2009). Britain and European integration since 1945: On the sidelines. London: Routledge.
Henkel, I. (2019). The witty Briton stands up to the European bully. How a populist myth helped the British Eurosceptics to win the 2016 EU referendum. Politique européenne, 66(4), 72–94.
Hillary, J. (2016). EU Referendum: How should the left vote?. War on Want, 1 January 2016. Available online: https://waronwant.org/media/eu-referendum-how-should-left-vote. Accessed 20 August 2018.
Josling, T. (2013, February 18) Keep politics out of transatlantic food safety talks. Financial Times. Available Online: https://www.ft.com/content/a59ae7d2-7524-11e2-a9f3-00144feabdc0. Accessed 6 July 2020.
Lakoff, G. (2014). Don’t think of an elephant! Know your values and frame the debate. Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing.
Morra, I. (2013). Britishness, popular music, and national identity: The making of modern Britain. London: Routledge.
Monbiot, G. (2014, March 10). Give and take in the EU-US trade deal? Sure. We give, the corporations take. The Guardian. Available Online: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/10/eu-us-trade-deal-give-corporations-take. Accessed 6 July 2020.
The Guardian. (2016, February 18). Divisions on the left over the benefits of staying in the EU. The Guardian. Available online https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/feb/18/divisions-on-the-left-over-the-benefits-of-staying-in-the-eu (accessed 20 August 2018).
Usherwood, S. (2007). Proximate factors in the mobilization of anti-EU groups in France and the UK: The European Union as first-order politics. Journal of European Integration, 29(1), 3–21.
Wilkes, G., & Wring, D. (1998). The British press and Euro-pean integration. In D. Baker & D. Seawright (Eds.), Britain for and against Europe: British Politics and the question of European integration (pp. 185–205). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Interview
1. Jude Kirton Darling, MEP, S&D, January 2018.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Oleart, A. (2021). Framing TTIP in the UK. In: Framing TTIP in the European Public Spheres. Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53637-4_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53637-4_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-53636-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-53637-4
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)